Codebook subset restriction signaling

ABSTRACT

A network node signals to a wireless communication device which precoders in a codebook are restricted from being used. The network node in this regard generates codebook subset restriction signaling that, for each of one or more groups of precoders, jointly restricts the precoders in the group by restricting a certain component (e.g., a certain beam precoder) that the precoders in the group have in common. This signaling may be for instance rank-agnostic signaling that jointly restricts the precoders in a group without regard to the precoders&#39; transmission rank. Regardless, the network node sends the generated signaling to the wireless communication device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/001,133, which was filed on Aug. 24, 2020, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/239,870, which wasfiled on Jan. 4, 2019, and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,756,792 on Aug.25, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/105,648, which was filed on Jun. 17, 2016, and issued as U.S. Pat.No. 10,193,600 on Jan. 29, 2019, which is a national stage applicationof PCT/SE2016/050009, filed Jan. 11, 2016, and claims benefit of U.S.Provisional Application 62/103,101, filed Jan. 14, 2015, the disclosuresof each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates generally to a network node and awireless communication device for operation in a wireless communicationsystem, and more particularly to the network node signaling to thewireless communication device which precoders in a codebook arerestricted from being used.

BACKGROUND

The use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and/or the receiver of awireless communication system can significantly boost the capacity andcoverage of a wireless communication system. Such MIMO systems canexploit the spatial dimension of the communication channel. For example,several information-carrying signals can be sent in parallel using thetransmit antennas and still be separated by signal processing at thereceiver. By adapting the transmission to the current channelconditions, significant additional gains can be achieved. One form ofadaptation is to dynamically, from one TTI to another, adjust the numberof simultaneously transmitted information streams carrying signals towhat the channel can support. This is commonly referred to as(transmission) rank adaptation. Precoding is another form of adaptationwhere the phases and amplitudes of the aforementioned signals areadjusted to better fit the current channel properties. The signals forma vector-valued signal and the adjustment can be thought of asmultiplication by a precoder matrix. A common approach is to select theprecoder matrix from a finite and indexed set, a so-called codebook.Such codebook-based precoding is an integral part of the LTE standard,as well as in many other wireless communication standards.

Codebook based precoding can be regarded as a form of channelquantization. A typical approach (c.f. LTE and MIMO HSDPA) is to let thereceiver recommend a suitable precoder matrix to the transmitter bysignaling the precoder matrix indicator (PMI) over a feedback link. Tolimit signaling overhead, it is generally important to keep the codebooksize as small as possible if the feedback link has a limited capacity.This however needs to be balanced against the performance impact sincewith a larger codebook it is possible to better match the currentchannel conditions.

For example, in the LTE downlink, the user equipment (UE) reports theprecoding matrix indicator (PMI) to the eNodeB either periodically onthe physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or aperiodic on the physicaluplink shared channel (PUSCH). The former is a rather narrow bit pipe(e.g., using a few bits) where channel state information (CSI) feedbackis reported in a semi-statically configured and periodic fashion. CSIfeedback in this regard includes one or more channel quality indicators(CQIs), PMIs, and/or a transmission rank (e.g., indicating a number oftransmission layers). On the other hand, reporting on PUSCH isdynamically triggered as part of the uplink grant. Thus, the eNodeB canschedule CSI transmissions in a dynamic fashion. In contrast to thePUCCH where the number of physical bits is currently limited to 20, thereports on PUSCH can be considerably larger. Thus, for feedback on PUCCHa small codebook size is desirable to keep the signaling overhead down.However, for feedback on PUSCH a larger codebook size is desirable toincrease performance, since the capacity on the feedback channel is notas limited in this case.

The desired size of the codebook may also depend on the transmissionscheme used. For example, a codebook used in multi-user multiple inputmultiple output (MU-MIMO) operation could benefit more from having alarger number of elements than a codebook used in single-user multipleinput multiple output (SU-MIMO) operation. In the former case, a largespatial resolution is important to allow for sufficient UE separation.

A convenient way to support different codebook sizes is to use a largecodebook with many elements by default and apply codebook subsetrestriction in the scenarios where a smaller codebook is beneficial.With codebook subset restriction, a subset of the precoders in thecodebook is restricted so that the UE has a smaller set of possibleprecoders to choose from. This effectively reduces the size of thecodebook implying that the search for the best PMI can be done on thesmaller unrestricted set of precoders, thereby also reducing the UEcomputational requirements for this particular search.

Typically, the eNodeB would signal the codebook subset restriction tothe UE by means of a bitmap in an a dedicated message part of theAntennaInfo information element (see the RRC specification, TS 36.331),one bit for each precoder in the codebook, where a 1 would indicate thatthe precoder is restricted (meaning that the UE is not allowed to chooseand report said precoder). Thus, for a codebook with N elements, abitmap of length N would be used to signal the codebook subsetrestriction. This allows for full flexibility for the eNodeB to restrictevery possible subset of the codebook. There are thus 2^(N) possiblecodebook subset restriction configurations.

For large antenna arrays with many antenna elements, the effective beamsbecome narrow and a codebook containing many precoders is required forthe intended coverage area. Furthermore, for two-dimensional antennaarrays, the codebook size increases quadratically since the precoders inthe codebook need to span two dimensions, typically the horizontal andvertical domain. Thus, the codebook size (i.e. the total number ofpossible precoding matrices W) can be very large. Signaling a codebooksubset restriction in the conventional way by means of a bitmap with onebit for every precoder can thus impose a large overhead, especially ifthe codebook subset restriction (CSR) is frequently updated or if thereare many users served by the cell which each has to receive the CSR.

SUMMARY

One or more embodiments herein include a method implemented by a networknode for signaling to a wireless communication device which precoders ina codebook are restricted from being used. The method comprisesgenerating codebook subset restriction signaling that, for each of oneor more groups of precoders, jointly restricts the precoders in thegroup by restricting a certain component that the precoders in the grouphave in common. The method further comprises sending the generatedsignaling from the network node to the wireless communication device.

Embodiments herein also correspondingly include a method implemented bya wireless communication device for decoding signaling from a networknode indicating which precoders in a codebook are restricted from beingused. The method comprises receiving codebook subset restrictionsignaling that, for each of one or more groups of precoders, jointlyrestricts the precoders in the group by restricting a certain componentthat the precoders in the group have in common. The method furthercomprises decoding the received signaling as jointly restrictingprecoders in each of the one or more groups of precoders.

In some embodiments, the codebook subset restriction signaling isrank-agnostic signaling that jointly restricts the precoders in a groupwithout regard to the precoders' transmission rank.

In some embodiments, the certain component comprises a beam precoder. Insome embodiments, for example, a beam precoder is a Kronecker product ofdifferent beamforming vectors associated with different dimensions of amulti-dimensional antenna array. In this case, the different beamformingvectors may comprise Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) vectors.

In other embodiments where the certain component comprises a beamprecoder, a beam precoder is a beamforming vector used to transmit on aparticular layer of a multi-layer transmission. Different scaledversions of that beamforming vector are transmitted on differentpolarizations.

In still other such embodiments, a beam precoder is a beamforming vectorused to transmit on: multiple different layers of a multi-layertransmission; multiple different layers of a multi-layer transmission,wherein the layers are sent on orthogonal polarizations; or a particularlayer and on a particular polarization.

In some embodiments, a precoder comprising one or more beam precoders isrestricted if at least one of its one or more beam precoders isrestricted.

In any of these embodiments, the codebook subset restriction signalingmay comprise a bitmap, with different bits in the bitmap respectivelydedicated to indicating whether or not different beam precoders arerestricted from being used.

Alternatively or additionally, a beam precoder may be a Kroneckerproduct of first and second beamforming vectors with first and secondindices. In this case, the first and second beamforming vectors may beassociated with different dimensions of a multi-dimensional antennaarray, and the codebook subset restriction signaling may jointlyrestrict the precoders in a group of precoders that have the same pairof values for the first and second indices.

In some embodiments, each precoder comprises one or more beam precoders.In some of these embodiments, each beam precoder comprises multipledifferent components corresponding to different dimensions of amulti-dimensional antenna array. The certain component in this case maycomprise a component of a beam precoder.

In some embodiments, the codebook subset restriction signaling jointlyrestricts the precoders in a group of precoders that transmit at leastin part towards a certain angular pointing direction, by restricting acertain component which has that angular pointing direction.

Embodiments herein also include another method implemented by a networknode for signaling to a wireless communication device which precoders ina codebook are restricted from being used. The method comprises a numberof steps for each of one or more groups of precoders in the codebook.These steps include identifying one or more reference configurations forthe group. Each reference configuration is one of different possibleconfigurations that restrict different subgroups of precoders in thegroup from being used. The steps also include identifying, from thedifferent possible configurations for the group, an actual configurationto be signaled for the group. The steps also include generatingsignaling to indicate the actual configuration for the group, bygenerating the signaling as a bit pattern whose length depends on (i)whether the actual configuration matches one of the one or morereference configurations and/or (ii) which reference configuration theactual configuration matches. The method further comprises sending thegenerated signaling to the wireless communication device.

Embodiments herein further include another corresponding methodimplemented by a wireless communication device for decoding signalingfrom a network node indicating which precoders in a codebook arerestricted from being used. The method includes receiving signaling fromthe network node. The method also entails a number of steps for each ofone or more groups of precoders in the codebook. These steps includeidentifying one or more reference configurations for the group. Eachreference configuration is one of different possible configurations thatrestrict different subgroups of precoders in the group from being used.The steps further include identifying a bit pattern defined forsignaling each reference configuration, and a length of that bitpattern. The steps also include detecting an actual configurationsignaled for the group, by detecting in the signaling a bit patternwhose length depends on (i) whether the actual configuration matches oneof the one or more reference configurations and/or (ii) which referenceconfiguration the actual configuration matches.

In some embodiments, the signaling is a short bit pattern when theactual configuration matches any one of the one or more referenceconfigurations and is a long bit pattern when the actual configurationdoes not match any of the one or more reference configurations. A longbit pattern has more bits than a short bit pattern. In this case, theone or more reference configurations for at least one of the one or moregroups may comprise a single reference configuration, and different longbit patterns may be respectively defined for signaling differentconfigurations other than the single reference configuration.Alternatively or additionally, a long bit pattern defined for signalingthe actual configuration for the group may comprise: (i) a non-referencebit pattern defined for signaling that the actual configuration does notmatch a reference configuration for the group; and (ii) a bitmapcomprising different bits respectively dedicated to indicating whetherdifferent precoders in the group are restricted from being used.

In some embodiments, the one or more reference configurations for atleast one of the one or more groups comprise multiple referenceconfigurations. In this case, when the actual configuration matches aparticular one of the multiple reference configurations, the signalingis a bit pattern whose length is shorter than that of a bit patterngenerated when the actual configuration matches a different one of themultiple reference configurations.

In some embodiments, the one or more reference configurations for agroup each have an actual or assumed higher probability of beingsignaled than any other possible configuration that is not one of theone or more reference configurations.

In some embodiments, the method is performed for multiple differentgroups that respectively include different portions of the precoders inthe codebook. In this case, the signaling indicates the actualconfigurations for the groups in a defined order. The one or morereference configurations for each group comprises a single referenceconfiguration, and the single reference configuration for any givengroup is the actual configuration, if any, signaled immediately beforethat of the given group.

In some embodiments, the codebook is a Kronecker codebook defined for amulti-dimensional antenna array and comprises different precodersindexed by different possible values of a single index parameter. Inthis case, the different possible values of the single index parameterare divided into different clusters of consecutively ordered values, andprecoders in different ones of the one or more groups are respectivelyindexed by the different clusters of consecutively ordered values.

In some embodiments, the codebook is a Kronecker codebook defined for amulti-dimensional antenna array and comprises different precodersindexed by different pairs of possible values for a first-dimensionindex parameter and a second-dimension index parameter. In this case,precoders in each of the one or more groups are indexed by pairs thathave the same value for either the first-dimension index parameter orthe second-dimension index parameter.

Embodiments herein further include corresponding apparatus and computerprogram products.

In at least some embodiments, signaling a codebook subset restriction inthis way advantageously lowers the signaling overhead imposed bytransmitting the codebook subset restriction, while still allowing forflexibility in configuring different codebook subset restrictions.

Embodiments herein therefore generally include methods to reduce thenumber of bits required for signaling a codebook subset restrictionconfiguration to a wireless communication device. The methods in one ormore of these embodiments do so by:

Utilizing an explicit or implicit assumption about which sets ofprecoders are more likely to be restricted, and/or associating a groupof precoders with a single codebook subset restriction bit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a logic flow diagram indicating codebook subset restriction(CSR) signaling between a network node and a wireless communicationdevice according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a logic flow diagram of a method implemented by a network nodefor signaling to a wireless communication device which precoders in acodebook are restricted from being used, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a two-dimensional antenna array ofcross-polarized antenna elements according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating the angular pointing directions ofprecoders in a codebook according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a logic flow diagram of a method implemented by a network nodefor signaling to a wireless communication device which precoders in acodebook are restricted from being used, according to other embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary codebook according to someembodiments.

FIG. 7 is a graph illustrating the angular pointing directions ofprecoders in a codebook according to other embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of precoder groupings according to someembodiments.

FIG. 9 is a logic flow diagram of a method implemented by a wirelesscommunication device for decoding signaling from a network nodeindicating which precoders in a codebook are restricted from being used,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a logic flow diagram of a method implemented by a wirelesscommunication device for decoding signaling from a network nodeindicating which precoders in a codebook are restricted from being used,according to other embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a network node according to someembodiments.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a network node according to otherembodiments.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device accordingto some embodiments.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a wireless communication device accordingto other embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to the flowchart of FIG. 1, a network node 10 in a wirelesscommunication network (e.g., an eNB in the network) signals a codebooksubset restriction (CSR) configuration 12 to a wireless communicationdevice 14 (e.g., a UE). The device 14 then sends a channel stateinformation (CSI) report 16 back to the network. This CSI report 16suggests which of different possible precoders in a codebook the networkshould use for transmitting to the device 14, but the CSI report 16 isrestricted in the sense that there is a subset of precoders that cannotbe reported by the device 14; that is, all precoders in the codebookcannot be selected and reported by the device 14. This restriction isdefined by the signaled CSR configuration 12.

In more detail, for a precoder codebook X, consisting of N precoders,there are 2^(N) possible codebook subset restriction configurationssince each precoder can individually either be allowed or restricted (arestricted configuration is not allowed to be used). Each configurationcan be represented by a bitmap of N bits, where each bit corresponds toa certain precoder and the value of the bit then indicates whether theprecoder is restricted or not. If each of the 2^(N) configurations isequiprobable and independent, this is the optimal representation of acodebook subset restriction configuration with respect to the expectedlength (in bits) of the representation and it provides full flexibility.

However, embodiments herein recognize that, if certain configurationsare more likely to be used than others, and/or if the restriction of oneprecoder is highly correlated to the restriction of another precoder,then this signaling leads to unnecessarily high signaling overhead. Oneor more embodiments herein include methods to reduce this signalingoverhead; that is, reduce the number of bits required for signaling acodebook subset restriction configuration to a wireless communicationdevice 14 from the network. In some embodiments, for example, themethods utilize an implicit assumption about which sets of precoders aremore likely to be restricted or which sets of precoders are likely to bejointly restricted.

According to one embodiment shown in FIG. 2, for example, a method isimplemented by a network node 10 (e.g., a base station) for signaling toa wireless communication device 14 which precoders in a codebook arerestricted from being used. For each of one or more groups of precodersin the codebook, the method includes identifying one or more referenceconfigurations for the group (Block 110). Each reference configurationis one of different possible configurations that restrict differentsubgroups of precoders in the group from being used. One of thereference configurations for a group may be for instance whichever oneof the different possible configurations has the maximum probability ofbeing signaled, e.g., as predicted or estimated based on empiricalobservations or implicit assumptions. Regardless, the method furtherincludes identifying, from the different possible configurations for thegroup, the actual configuration to be signaled for the group (Block120).

The method also includes generating signaling to indicate the actualconfiguration for the group (Block 130). This entails generating thesignaling as a bit pattern whose length depends on (i) whether theactual configuration matches one of the one or more referenceconfigurations; and/or (ii) which reference configuration the actualconfiguration matches. In some embodiments, for example, when the actualconfiguration matches any reference configuration, the bit pattern'slength is shorter than when the actual configuration does not match anyreference configuration. In other embodiments, when the actualconfiguration matches a particular one of multiple referenceconfigurations, the bit pattern's length is shorter than when the actualconfiguration matches a different one of the reference configurations.Regardless, this process (Blocks 110-130) is repeated for each of one ormore groups of precoders in the codebook (Blocks 100, 140, and 150).Finally, the method includes sending the generated signaling to thewireless communication device 14 (Block 160).

This approach may in some sense be viewed as a sort of compressionalgorithm for CSR signaling. Indeed, the approach advantageously reducesthe signaling overhead when, over the course of a given time period, theoverhead savings realized by signaling bit patterns with relativelyshorter lengths outweighs the overhead costs imposed by signaling bitpatterns with relatively longer lengths. Depending on the relativelengths of the bit patterns, then, the approach may for instance reducesignaling overhead when the one or more reference configurations (orparticular ones of the one or more reference configurations) aresignaled more often than not.

In at least some embodiments, therefore, a reference configuration has ahigher likelihood or probability of being signaled than any otherpossible configurations that are not reference configurations. Forexample, the one or more reference configurations for a group mayinclude whichever one(s) of the different possible configurations forthe group have the highest probability of being signaled. Differentreference configurations that have different probabilities of beingsignaled may be represented with bit patterns of different lengths,where reference configurations with higher probabilities are representedwith bit patterns of shorter lengths. That is, certain configurationsthat are deemed more probable may be represented with a fewer number ofbits, while other configurations, that are deemed less probable to beused, may be represented with a larger number of bits.

In some embodiments, the one or more reference configurations may bepredefined to be particular one(s) of the possible configurations, e.g.,based on an (implicit) assumption that the particular configuration(s)have the highest probability of being signaled. For example, an implicitassumption is made on how the network is likely to be configured. Hence,here certain configurations are considered more likely than others butthere are no actual probability values estimated for the differentconfigurations.

In other embodiments, though, the network node 10 determines signalingprobabilities of different configurations, e.g., based on empiricalobservations and compares those probabilities to identify theconfiguration(s) with the highest probability. In one embodiment forexample signaling probabilities are estimated through logging of networkdata. Hence, here it may be possible to estimate actual probabilitiesfor the different configurations. In general, therefore, the knowledgeon “how likely” a certain configuration is may be obtained in many ways.

In some embodiments, only a single reference configuration is definedfor a group. In this case, the signaling is generated as a short bitpattern when the actual configuration matches the referenceconfiguration and as a long bit pattern when the actual configurationdoes not match the reference configuration. Different long bit patternsin this regard are respectively defined for signaling differentconfigurations (other than the reference configuration, for which theshort bit pattern is defined for signaling). A long bit pattern ofcourse has more bits than a short bit pattern (e.g., N bits vs. 1 bit).

In other embodiments, multiple reference configurations are defined fora group. In this case, the signaling may be generated as bit patternsthat have different lengths when the actual configuration matchesdifferent reference configurations. These lengths may correspond to howlikely it is that the reference configurations will be signaled. The bitpattern's length may be shortest when the actual configuration matches aparticular one of the reference configurations (e.g., the one with themaximum probability of being signaled), may be next shortest when theactual configuration matches a different reference configuration (e.g.,the one with the next highest signaling probability), and may be longestwhen the actual configuration does not match any of the referenceconfigurations.

In some embodiments, bit patterns signaling non-reference configurationsare encoded as a combination of a so-called “non-reference bit pattern”and a “bitmap.” The non-reference bit pattern is defined for signalingthat the actual configuration for the group does not match any referenceconfiguration for the group. The non-reference bit pattern may forinstance be the complement of a bit pattern defined for signaling areference configuration. For example, when only a single referenceconfiguration is defined for a group, the bit pattern signaling thatreference configuration may simply be a single bit with a value of “1”,whereas the non-reference bit pattern may be a single bit with a valueof “0”. Regardless, the bitmap portion of the bit pattern comprisesdifferent bits respectively dedicated to indicating whether differentprecoders in the group are restricted from being used.

In at least some embodiments, the method is performed for only onegroup. This single group in one embodiment includes all precoders in thecodebook.

In another embodiment, of course, the single group includes only aportion of the precoders in the codebook, such that the signalingapproach is adopted for only this portion, while other signalingapproaches (e.g., the conventional bitmap) is adopted for otherportions.

In other embodiments, the method is performed for multiple differentgroups that respectively include different portions of the precoders inthe codebook. In one such embodiment, the signaling indicates the actualconfigurations for the groups in a defined order. In one embodiment, theone or more reference configurations for any given group includes theactual configuration, if any, signaled immediately before that of thegiven group (according to the defined order).

Consider an example with an arbitrary codebook of size N, where thesingle group includes all N precoders. A certain configuration out ofthe 2^(N) possible codebook subset restriction configurations for thesingle group is deemed more probable. This configuration is representedby a single bit, ‘1’. The other 2^(N)−1 configurations are representedby a ‘0’, followed by a bitmap of size N. One of the configurations isthen represented by 1 bit, while the other configurations arerepresented by N+1 bits. Since the configuration represented by one bitis more frequently signaled, according to the assumption, the averagenumber of bits required to convey the codebook subset restriction may bemuch less than N.

However, if the assumption that one of the possible codebook subsetrestriction configurations was more likely than the others was incorrectfor the actual usage of codebook subset restriction configurations, theaverage number of bits required to convey a codebook subset restrictionto a UE may be larger than N bits. One or more embodiments hereintherefore aim to choose the representations of the 2^(N) configurationswell. Various methods may represent the 2^(N) configurations differentlydepending on which sets of precoders are more likely to be restricted.

Consider for example embodiments where the codebook is defined for amulti-dimensional (e.g., two-dimensional) antenna array. Such antennaarrays may be (partly) described by the number of antenna columnscorresponding to the horizontal dimension M_(h), the number of antennarows corresponding to the vertical dimension M_(v) and the number ofdimensions corresponding to different polarizations M_(p). The totalnumber of antennas is thus M=M_(h)M_(v)M_(p). It should be pointed outthat the concept of an antenna is non-limiting in the sense that it canrefer to any virtualization (e.g., linear mapping) of the physicalantenna elements. For example, pairs of physical sub-elements could befed the same signal, and hence share the same virtualized antenna port.

An example of a 4×4 array with cross-polarized antenna elements isillustrated in FIG. 3. Specifically, FIG. 3 shows a two-dimensionalantenna array of cross-polarized antenna elements (M_(p)=2), withM_(h)=4 horizontal antenna elements and M_(v)=4 vertical antennaelements, assuming one antenna element corresponds to one antenna port.

Precoding may be interpreted as multiplying the signal with differentbeamforming weights for each antenna prior to transmission. A typicalapproach is to tailor the precoder to the antenna form factor, i.e.taking into account M_(h), M_(v) and M_(p) when designing the precodercodebook.

According to some embodiments, a precoder codebook is tailored for 2Dantenna arrays by combining precoders tailored for a horizontal arrayand a vertical array respectively by means of a Kronecker product. Thismeans that (at least part of) the precoder can be described as afunction ofW _(H) ⊗W _(V)where W_(H) is a horizontal precoder taken from a (sub)-codebook X_(H)containing N_(H) codewords and similarly W_(V) is a vertical precodertaken from a (sub)-codebook X_(V) containing N_(V) codewords. The jointcodebook, denoted X_(H)⊗X_(V), thus contains N_(H)·N_(V) codewords. Theelements of X_(H) are indexed with k=0, . . . , N_(H)−1, the elements ofX_(V) are indexed with l=0, . . . , N_(V)−1 and the elements of thejoint codebook X_(H)⊗X_(V) are indexed with m=N_(V)·k+l meaning thatm=0, . . . , N_(H)·N_(V)·1.

In some embodiments, for example, the (sub)-codebooks of the Kroneckercodebook consist of DFT-precoders. In this case, the horizontal codebookcan be expressed as

${X_{H}^{k} = \ \begin{bmatrix}1 & e^{{j2}\;\pi\frac{{1k} + \Delta_{h}}{M_{h}Q_{h}}} & \ldots & e^{j\; 2\pi\frac{{{({M_{h} - 1})}k} + \Delta_{h}}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}\end{bmatrix}^{T}},{k = 0},\ldots\;,{{M_{h}Q_{h}} - 1},$where Q_(h) is an integer horizontal oversampling factor and Δ_(h) cantake on value in the interval 0 to 1 so as to “shift” the beam pattern(Δ_(h)=0.5 could be an interesting value for creating symmetry of beamswith respect to the broadside of an array). And the vertical codebookcan be expressed as

${X_{V}^{k} = \ \begin{bmatrix}1 & e^{{j2}\;\pi\frac{{1l} + \Delta_{h}}{M_{v}Q_{v}}} & \ldots & e^{j\; 2\pi\frac{{{({M_{v} - 1})}l} + \Delta_{v}}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}\end{bmatrix}^{T}},{l = 0},\ldots\;,{{M_{v}Q_{v}} - 1},$where Q_(v) is an integer vertical oversampling factor and Δ_(v) issimilarly defined as above.

It should be pointed out that a precoder codebook may be defined inseveral ways. For example, the above mentioned Kronecker codebook may beinterpreted as one codebook indexed with a single PMI m. Alternatively,it may be interpreted as a single codebook indexed with two PMIs k andl. It may also be interpreted as two separate codebooks, indexed with kand l respectively. Further, the Kronecker codebook discussed above mayonly describe a part of the precoder, i.e. the precoder may be afunction of other parameters as well. In a such example, the precoder isa function also of another PMI n. Again, this can be interpreted asthree separate codebooks with indices k, l and n respectively, or twoseparate codebooks with indices m=N_(V)·k+l and n respectively. It mayalso be interpreted as a single joint codebook with a joint PMI.Embodiments herein should be considered agnostic with respect to how acodebook is defined.

With this understanding, the codebook at issue in FIG. 2 may be aKronecker codebook that comprises different precoders indexed (at leastin part) by different possible values of a single index parameter (e.g.,index parameter m=0, . . . , N_(H)·N_(V)·1). In this case, the differentpossible values of the single index parameter are divided into differentclusters of consecutively ordered values. And precoders in the differentgroups are respectively indexed (at least in part) by the differentclusters of consecutively ordered values. For example, precoders indexedby the cluster m=0, . . . m1 belong to a first group, precoders indexedby the cluster m=m2, . . . m3 belong to a second group, precodersindexed by the cluster m=m4, . . . m5 belong to a third group, and soon. As an even more specific example, one or more embodiments exploitthe Kronecker structure of the precoder by mapping the index m toindices k and l as m=N_(V)k+l and grouping the precoders such that m=0,. . . , Nv−1 is the first group, m=Nv, . . . , 2Nv−1 is the secondgroup, etc.

In another embodiment, by contrast, the Kronecker codebook comprisesdifferent precoders indexed (at least in part) by different pairs ofpossible values for a first-dimension index parameter (e.g., k=0, . . ., N_(H)−1) and a second-dimension index parameter (e.g., l=0, . . . ,N_(V)−1). In this case, precoders in each of the different groups areindexed (at least in part) by pairs (k, l) that have the same value forthe first-dimension index parameter k and/or the second-dimension indexparameter l.

Two different embodiments in this regard, referred to as a “similar rowsembodiment” and a “similar columns embodiment”, will now be illustratedin the context of a Kronecker codebook and where only a single referenceconfiguration is defined for a group. The Kronecker codebook in thisexample consists of precoders with different angular directions,spanning a two-dimensional angular area as seen from the transmitter. Animportant use case for codebook subset restriction in such an embodimentmay be to restrict precoders in a certain angular area or angleinterval, e.g. corresponding to a direction where a user hotspot of anadjacent cell is located. The eNodeB would then reduce interference tosaid adjacent cell and particular the hotspot area if precoderscorresponding to beams pointing at that direction were restricted. Thisis beneficial from a system capacity perspective.

In the following, consider the specific example where codebook subsetrestriction is used on a Kronecker codebook in order to understand howdifferent embodiments can be used to reduce the signaling overhead. Inthis scenario, a 4×4 antenna array with a mechanical downtilt of 18° isused. The Kronecker codebook consists of 8 vertical and 8 horizontalprecoders, i.e. N_(H)=N_(V)=8. The angular pointing directions of theprecoders in the codebook are illustrated in FIG. 4.

Codebook subset restriction is applied to restrict beams with pointingdirections in the zenith interval [85°, 95° ] (illustrated with dottedlines). That is, codebook subset restriction is applied in the angularinterval 85°<θ<95°, meaning that the precoders with indices (k,l)=(0,4), (3,5), (4,5), (7,4) are restricted. These restricted beams areillustrated with an ‘o’ while the unrestricted beams are illustratedwith an ‘x’. The beam index k in the horizontal codebook and l in thevertical codebook is written next to the beams as (k, l). If thisconfiguration of codebook subset restriction would be signaled with aconventional bitmap, N=N_(H)·N_(V)=64 bits would be used.

“Similar Rows Embodiment”

In one embodiment, by using compressing of the CSR signaling, a schemeis designed taking into consideration the hypothesis that precoders (k,l) with adjacent l-indices (i.e. (k, l₀−1), (k, l₀) and (k, l₀+1)) arelikely to have the same restriction setting, meaning that if (k, l₀) isrestricted, (k, l₀+1) is likely to be restricted as well and vice versa.The scheme works as follows:

First, a bitmap of N_(H) bits are sent, indicating the codebook subsetrestriction for the “row” of precoders where l=0 (c.f. FIG. 4), i.e. theprecoders (k, l)=(0,0), (1,0), . . . , (N_(H)−1,0).

Then, the codebook subset restriction for the second “row” of precoders,where l=1 is sent. If the restriction is the same as for the previousrow of precoders, a ‘1’ is sent. If the restriction for this row differsfrom the restriction of the previous row, a ‘0’ is sent, followed by abitmap indicating the restriction for this row.

The previous step is then repeated for each of the N_(V) “rows” ofprecoders.

This embodiment is illustrated with an example, considering the codebooksubset restriction setting illustrated in FIG. 4, i.e. the restrictionof precoders with indices (k, l)=(0,4), (3,5), (4,5), (7,4) should besignaled.

For l=0:

No precoders with l-index 0 should be restricted, therefore the bitmap‘00000000’ is sent.

For l=1:

The restriction of this row is identical to the restriction of theprevious row, the bit ‘1’ is sent.

For l=2:

The restriction of this row is identical to the restriction of theprevious row, the bit ‘1’ is sent.

For l=3:

The restriction of this row is identical to the restriction of theprevious row, the bit ‘1’ is sent.

For l=4:

The restriction of this row is not identical to the restriction of theprevious row, therefore the bit ‘0’ is sent. The bitmap indicating therestriction for this row should now be sent. Precoders (0,4) and (7,4)should be restricted. Therefore, the bitmap ‘10000001’ is sent.

For l=5:

The restriction of this row is not identical to the restriction of theprevious row, therefore the bit ‘0’ is sent. The bitmap indicating therestriction for this row should now be sent. Precoders (3,5) and (4,5)should be restricted. Therefore, the bitmap ‘00011000’ is sent.

For l=6:

The restriction of this row is not identical to the restriction of theprevious row, therefore the bit ‘0’ is sent. The bitmap indicating therestriction for this row should now be sent. No precoder should berestricted. Therefore, the bitmap ‘00000000’ is sent.

For l=7:

The restriction of this row is identical to the restriction of theprevious row, the bit ‘1’ is sent.

The string of bits to be signaled is thus0000000001110100000010000110000000000001′, consisting of 39 bits.Generally, the number of bits required with this scheme isN _(bits) =M·N _(H) N _(V)−1

Where M is the number of times the rows change and a bitmap for a rowhas to be transmitted, M=4 in the example. Analyzing the aboveexpression, we note that 1 M N_(V). This means that for some of the2^(N)=2^(N) ^(H) ^(·N) ^(V) possible codebook subset restrictions, thenumber of bits required to signal the codebook subset restriction withthis scheme is smaller than N, while for others, such as when M=N_(V),the number of bits required is larger than N.

It should be noted that this is a small example for the sake ofillustrating the embodiment. If a larger codebook is used, sayN_(H)=N_(V)=30, and M=4 the number of bits required with this schemewould be N_(bits)=M·N_(H)+N_(V)−1=149 compared to N=N_(H)·N_(V)=900 inthe case of just transmitting the entire bitmap; this is hence asubstantial reduction in the number of required bits.

Finally, it is pointed out that all possible codebook subset restrictionconfigurations can be represented by this encoding/decoding scheme,thereby providing full flexibility.

“Similar Columns” Embodiment

In another embodiment, the scheme discussed in the previous embodimentis modified by instead taking into consideration the hypothesis thatprecoders (k, l) with adjacent k-indices (i.e. (k₀−1, l), (k₀, l) and(k₀+1, l)) are likely to have the same restriction setting, meaning thatif (k₀, l) is restricted, (k₀+1, l) is likely to be restricted as welland vice versa. The construction of the string of bits to be signaledwould then work similarly as in the previously discussed embodiment,except that the precoders “columns” k will be used instead.

In another embodiment an extra initial bit is inserted where ‘1’indicates that encoding is done under the assumption that precoders (k,l) with adjacent l-indices (i.e. (k, l₀−1), (k, l₀) and (k, l₀+1)) arelikely to have the same restriction, hence the encoding is done rowwise, whereas a ‘0’ indicates that precoders (k, l) with adjacentk-indices (i.e. (k₀−1, l), (k₀, l) and (k₀+1, l)) are likely to have thesame restriction setting, hence encoding is done column wise.

In another embodiment an initial bit is inserted where ‘1’ indicatesthat no precoders are restricted, a ‘0’ indicates that some precodersare restricted and the ‘0’ is followed by a number of bits representingthe codebook subset restriction.

Accordingly, different “compression” techniques (whether based onsimilar rows, columns, or otherwise) may be adopted for different groupsof precoders in the same codebook, where the particular technique isindicated to the device so that the device can decode the signaling.Alternatively, the same “compression” technique may be adopted for eachof the groups of precoders, but the network evaluates different possibletechniques to identify the one that provides the best compression andthen adopts that approach (and indicates it to the device).

Of course, the embodiments shown in FIG. 2, and variations thereof, maybe used for signaling a restricted subset of precoders in any givencodebook, whether Kronecker structured or not. Moreover, the signalingmay be rank-specific, meaning that different signaling restrictsdifferent rank-specific codebooks.

According to other embodiments shown in FIG. 5, a method is implementedin a network node 10 (e.g., a base station) for signaling to a wirelesscommunication device 14 which precoders in a codebook are restrictedfrom being used (e.g., which Kronecker product precoders arerestricted). As shown, the method includes generating codebook subsetrestriction signaling that, for each of one or more groups of precoders,jointly restricts the precoders in the group, e.g., with a singlesignaling bit (Block 210). In at least some embodiments, this signaling(i) is rank-agnostic so as to restrict precoders irrespective of theirtransmission rank; and/or (ii) jointly restricts a group of precoders byrestricting a certain component that those precoders (i.e., theprecoders in the group) have in common. Regardless, the method thenincludes sending the generated signaling to the wireless communicationdevice 14 (Block 220).

Consider embodiments that jointly restrict a group of precoders byrestricting a certain component that those precoders (i.e., theprecoders in the group) have in common. Precoders have a certaincomponent in common if the precoders are derived from or are otherwise afunction of that same component. In one embodiment, for example, a groupof precoders W(b) that have a certain component b in common are jointlyrestricted by restricting that component b. Restriction of thiscomponent b may be signaled for instance in terms of one or more indicesfor the component (e.g., m where the component is indexed as b_(m) or(k, l) where the component is indexed as b_(k,l), with m, k, and l beingindices for a Kronecker-structured codebook as described above).

Note that embodiments herein contemplate a precoder having one or moredifferent “components” at any level of granularity (e.g., component(s)at a high level of precoder factorability and/or component(s) at a lowerlevel of precoder factorability). For example, a precoder may compriseone or more different components b at one level of granularity. At afiner level of granularity, though, each of these components b may inturn be derived from or otherwise be a function of multiplesub-components x_(H) and x_(V) such that b(x_(H),x_(V)). In this case, agroup of precoders W(x_(H),x_(V)) that have a certain component x_(H) orx_(V) in common may be jointly restricted by restricting that componentx_(H) or x_(V). Restriction of this component x_(H) or x_(V) may besignaled for instance in terms of an index for the component (e.g., k orl where the component x_(H) is indexed as x_(H) ^(k) and the componentx_(V) is indexed as x_(V) ^(l), with x_(H) and x_(V) being horizontaland vertical beamforming vectors, respectively, and with k and 1 beingindices for a Kronecker-structured codebook as described above).

In some embodiments, a precoder at one level of granularity consists ofone or more different components that are referred to as one or moreso-called “beam precoders”. Each precoder W in this regard consists ofone or more beamforming vectors b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(X) that are referredto as beam precoders. One or more embodiments herein jointly restrict agroup of precoders W that have a certain beam precoder in common, byrestricting that beam precoder. With restriction of precoders W as awhole founded on restriction of one or more of their constituting beamprecoders, these embodiments advantageously generate the CSR signalingin terms of beam-specific restrictions (i.e., restrictions of certainbeam precoders), rather than in terms of precoder-specific restrictions(i.e., restrictions on precoders W as a whole). In some embodiments, thedevice 14 shall assume that a precoder W is restricted if one or more ofits beam precoders are restricted. In other embodiments, each beamprecoder must be restricted for the device 14 to assume that the totalprecoder W is restricted.

In one embodiment, a beam precoder is the beamforming vector used totransmit on a particular layer, where different scaled versions of thatbeamforming vector are transmitted on different polarizations. Differentlayers are transmitted on different beam precoders. A precoder W in thiscase can be expressed as:

$W = {\alpha \cdot \begin{bmatrix}b_{0} & b_{1} & \ldots & b_{L - 1} \\{\varphi_{0}b_{0}} & {\varphi_{1}b_{1}} & \ldots & {\varphi_{L - 1}b_{L - 1}}\end{bmatrix}}$

Here, W is a N×L precoder matrix, where N is the number of transmitantenna ports, L the transmission rank (i.e. the number of transmittedspatial streams), b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(L-1) are N/2×1 beamforming vectors(denoted beam precoders), φ₀, φ₁, . . . , φ_(L-1) and α are arbitrarycomplex numbers. Another precoder W of the same codebook as W above canbe expressed as:

$W = {\alpha \cdot {\begin{bmatrix}b_{1} & b_{2} & \ldots & b_{L} \\{\varphi_{1}b_{1}} & {\varphi_{1}b_{2}} & \ldots & {\varphi_{L}b_{L}}\end{bmatrix}.}}$

For example, by signaling b₀, only the former precoder is restricted andby signaling b₁ both precoders will be restricted.

In some embodiments, the first

$\frac{N}{2}$antenna ports are mapped to antennas with one polarization while thelatter

$\frac{N}{2}$antenna ports are mapped to antennas with the same positions as thefirst antennas, but with an orthogonal polarization. In suchembodiments, for each column of W (i.e. the precoder for each spatiallayer), a beam precoder b is transmitted on one polarization and ascaled version of the same beam precoder φb is transmitted on a secondpolarization. Such scaling may impact the phase, amplitude, or both thephase and amplitude of the beam precoder.

In another embodiment, a beam precoder is the beamforming vector used totransmit on multiple different layers, where the layers are sent onorthogonal polarizations. In this case, a precoder W can be expressedas:

$W = {\alpha \cdot \left\lbrack {\begin{matrix}b_{0} & b_{0} & \ldots \\{\varphi_{0}b_{0}} & {\varphi_{1}b_{0}} & \ldots\end{matrix}\begin{matrix}b_{0} \\{\varphi_{L - 1}b_{0}}\end{matrix}} \right\rbrack}$

Accordingly, it should be noted that the beam precoders for each spatiallayer b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(L-1) may be different beam precoders, or, somesubsets of the beam precoders may be identical, for example b₀ may beequal to b₁.

In yet another embodiment, a beam precoder is the beamforming vectorused to transmit on a particular layer and on a particular polarization.That is, a beam precoder may be defined in a slightly different way thanthe definition above. The definition of a beam precoder may for exampleallow different beam precoders to be transmitted on the differentpolarizations of the same layer, such as

$W = {\alpha \cdot {\left\lbrack {\begin{matrix}b_{0} & b_{2} & \ldots \\{\varphi_{0}b_{1}} & {\varphi_{1}b_{3}} & \ldots\end{matrix}\begin{matrix}b_{{2L} - 2} \\{\varphi_{L - 1}b_{{2L} - 1}}\end{matrix}} \right\rbrack.}}$

In still another embodiment, the beam precoders may be defined bydisregarding the polarization asW=α·[b ₀ b ₁ . . . b _(L-1)].

Note that the beam precoders b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(L-1) may be chosenexplicitly from a set of beam precoders (a codebook) or they may beimplicitly chosen when selecting the (total) precoder W from a codebookX. It should be noted that the selection of the (total) precoder W maybe made with one or several PMIs. In the case where selection of thetotal precoder W is made with several PMIs, the resulting beam precodersfor each layer may be a function of only a subset of the PMIs or theymay be a function of all PMIs.

Irrespective of the particular way a beam precoder is defined, though,one or more embodiments herein jointly restrict a group of precoders Wthat have a certain beam precoder in common, by restricting that beamprecoder. That is, in some embodiments, codebook subset restriction(CSR) may be signaled based on the set of possible beam precoders b,instead of CSR signaled on the set of possible (total) precoders W. Insome such embodiments, the device 14 shall assume that a precoder W isrestricted if one or more of the beam precoders b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(L-1)of each layer are restricted. In other such embodiments, each layers'beam precoder must be restricted for the device 14 to assume that thetotal precoder W is restricted.

Consider a specific example for an 8TX codebook with transmission rank2. In some embodiments, this codebook is defined as shown in FIG. 6.Defined in this way, each precoder W is formed in part from a beamprecoder v_(m) (note the notation shift from b₀, b₁, . . . , b_(L-1) tov_(m)). The beam precoder index m is the same for some precoders W,including for instance precoders whose subcodebook index i₂ is equal to0, 1, 8, 9, 12 or 13 (since for those precoders m=2i₁). This means thatthose precoders W have the same beam precoder v_(m) in common.Accordingly, some embodiments herein jointly restrict a group ofprecoders W that have a particular beam precoder v_(m) in common, byrestricting that beam precoder v_(m), e.g., with a single bit.Restriction of this beam precoder v_(m) may be signaled for instance interms of index m (e.g., beam precoders indexed with a particular valueof m are restricted). Signaling in this case may constitute a bitmap,with different bits in the bitmap respectively dedicated to indicatingwhether or not different beam precoders are restricted from being used.For example, signaling may constitute a bitmap of m values, withdifferent bits in the bitmap respectively dedicated to indicatingwhether or not beam precoders indexed with different of m values arerestricted from use.

In alternative embodiments not shown in FIG. 6, the beam precoder v_(m)is replaced by beam precoder v_(k,l), which is a Kronecker product of avertical beamforming vector x_(V) with index k and a horizontalbeamforming vector x_(H) with index l. For example, as noted above,these beamforming vectors may comprise DFT vectors. Regardless,restriction of beam precoder v_(k,l) may be signaled in terms of theindex pair (k, l). Signaling in this case may constitute a bitmap of (k,l) value pairs, with different bits in the bitmap respectively dedicatedto indicating whether or not beam precoders indexed with different (k,l) value pairs are restricted from use.

Instead of such a bitmap, restriction of one or more beam precodersv_(k,l) in some embodiments is jointly signaled in terms of a“rectangle” defined by two (k, l) value pairs: namely, (k₀, l₀) and (k₁,l₁). In this case, beam precoders v_(k,l) with indides k₀<k<k₁ andl₀<l<l₁ are restricted.

As yet another alternative, restriction of one or more beam precodersv_(k,l) in some embodiments is signaled in terms of a bitmap of k valuesand/or a bitmap of l values. If signaled as only a bitmap of k values,the device in some embodiments assumes that any beam precoders v_(k,l)with certain k values are restricted, irrespective of those precoders' lvalues. If signaled as only a bitmap of l values, the device in someembodiments assumes that any beam precoders v_(k,l) with certain lvalues are restricted, irrespective of those precoders' k values. Ifsignaled as both a bitmap of k values and a bitmap of l values, thedevice in some embodiments assumes that only beam precoders v_(k,l) withcertain (k, l) value pairs as collectively defined by those bitmaps arerestricted.

That said, restrictions specified in term of k and/or l values may insome sense be deemed as restrictions at a finer level of granularitythan even the beam precoders themselves. Indeed, as noted above, eachbeam precoder v_(k,l), is in some embodiments a Kronecker product of avertical beamforming vector x_(V) with index k and a horizontalbeamforming vector x_(H) with index l. Accordingly, signaling therestriction as k and/or l values effectively amounts to restricting(sub)components x_(H) or x_(V).

Consider an example of these finer-granularity embodiments wherecodebook subset restriction is to be applied to beam precoders with lvalues of 3 or 4. If this configuration of codebook subset restrictionwould be signaled with a conventional bitmap, N=N_(H)·N_(V)=64 bitswould be used. By contrast, the scheme in these finer-granularityembodiments consider restriction of entire precoder “rows”, i.e allprecoders that are formed from beam precoders with the same l-index iseither turned on or off. To signal the codebook subset restriction inthis example, therefore, the bitmap ‘00011000’ of l values, consistingof N_(V)=8 bits, may be sent. With this scheme, a large reduction of thenumber of bits required to signal the codebook subset restriction isseen. However, not all of the 2^(N) possible codebook subsetrestrictions may be signaled.

In a similar embodiment, the restriction is applied on the precoder“columns” k and the codebook subset restriction is signaled with a N_(H)bit long bitmap, indicating restrictions of entire precoder “columns”.

In another embodiment an extra initial bit is inserted where ‘1’indicates that encoding is done as above “row wise”, whereas a ‘0’indicates is done “column wise”.

In yet another embodiment, the device 14 shall assume that a precoder Wis restricted if both the vertical and the horizontal precoder in theKronecker structure are restricted. If only one of the vertical andhorizontal precoders are restricted, then the device 14 shall not assumethat the resulting precoder after Kronecker operation is restricted.

Thus, one or more embodiments herein advantageously exploit a codebook'sKronecker structure to generate the signaling of FIG. 5 in terms ofindices k, l, and/or m. In some embodiments, for example, the signalingis generated to jointly restrict, e.g., with a single bit, a group ofprecoders that either (i) have the same value of index k; (ii) have thesame value of index l; or (iii) have the same pair of values for indices(k, l).

In some embodiments, signaling that jointly restricts a group ofprecoders by restricting a certain component (e.g., beam precoder) thatthose precoders have in common is rank-agnostic. That is, the signalingjointly restricts the group of precoders regardless of the precoders'transmission rank (i.e., regardless of which rank-specific codebook theybelong to). For example, embodiments that restrict a single beamprecoder b₀ can be extended so that all precoders across all ranks thatcontain the restricted beam precoder b₀ are restricted. Hence, allprecoders across all ranks that contain a certain beam precoder b₀ is aprecoder group that can be restricted jointly. According to someembodiments, therefore, an advantage of signaling CSR based on beamprecoders is that one does not need to signal a separate CSR forprecoders with different rank (precoders with different rank arerestricted with the same CSR). This reduces signaling overhead.

Signaling that jointly restricts a group of precoders by restricting acertain component that those precoders have in common also proveseffective for restricting precoders that transmit in whole or in parttowards certain angular pointing directions. Indeed, according to someembodiments herein, the network node 10 jointly restricts a group ofprecoders that transmit at least in part towards a certain angularpointing direction, by restricting a certain component (e.g., beamprecoder) which has that angular pointing direction. In this way, thenetwork node 10 avoids transmitting energy in a certain direction, bysignaling to the device 14 by means of CSR that the device 14 shall notcompute feedback for that particular direction.

More specifically in this regard, when each precoder W is formed frommultiple beam precoders, the precoder W in some sense has multipleangular pointing directions corresponding to the angular pointingdirections of its constituent beam precoders (where each beam precoderhas its own azimuth and zenith angular pointing direction for example).In another sense, though, the precoder W has an overall angular pointingdirection that is a combination (e.g., average) of its beam precoders'respective directions. By restricting beam precoders that have certainangular pointing directions, embodiments herein effectively restrictprecoders that transmit at least in part in those directions, and do sowith reduced signaling overhead.

As an example, a set of rank-1 precoders with the same angular pointingdirection but with different polarization properties, such as the wholeset of rank-1 precoders

$\begin{bmatrix}b_{0} \\{e^{j\omega_{0}}b_{0}}\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}b_{0} \\{e^{j\omega_{1}}b_{0}}\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}b_{0} \\{e^{j\omega_{2}}b_{0}}\end{bmatrix},$

may be restricted by restriction signaling of a single beam precoder b₀.That is, when a restriction is signaled for a certain beam precoder, therestriction applies implicitly to all polarization phases of thesignaled beam. Hence, the group of rank-1 precoders exemplified above isassociated with a single CSR bit and is thus jointly restricted. Thisreduces device complexity and CSR signaling overhead, since only thebeam direction needs to be signaled.

In another example, the set of rank-1 precoders

$\begin{bmatrix}b_{0} \\{e^{j\omega_{0}}b_{1}}\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}b_{2} \\{e^{j\omega_{1}}b_{0}}\end{bmatrix},\begin{bmatrix}b_{0} \\{e^{j\omega_{2}}b_{2}}\end{bmatrix},$may be jointly restricted by restriction signaling of a single beamprecoder b₀. Hence, the group of rank-1 precoders exemplified above isassociated with a single CSR bit and is thus jointly restricted.

Restriction of precoders with certain angular pointing directions canalso be accomplished by specifying restrictions in terms of certain kand/or l values. This is illustrated with reference to FIG. 7, whichillustrates the angular beam pointing directions of rank-1 precoders ina codebook according to one example. In this example, the network nodehas a 4×4 antenna array where no mechanical downtilt is used. TheKronecker codebook consists of 8 vertical and 8 horizontal precoders,i.e. N_(H)=N_(V)=8. In this example, codebook subset restriction isapplied to restrict beams with pointing directions in the zenithinterval [80°, 100°] (the interval is illustrated with dotted lines).That is, codebook subset restriction is applied in the angular interval80°<θ<100°, such that the precoders with indices l-index 3 and 4 arerestricted. The restricted beams are illustrated with an ‘o’ while theunrestricted beams are illustrated with an ‘x’. The beam index k in thehorizontal codebook and l in the vertical codebook is written next tothe beams as (k, l). To signal the codebook subset restriction in thisexample, therefore, the bitmap ‘00011000’ of l values, consisting ofN_(V)=8 bits, may be sent. With this scheme, a large reduction of thenumber of bits required to signal the codebook subset restriction isseen.

In another embodiment, the device 14 shall assume that a precoder isrestricted if both the vertical and horizontal precoder in the Kroneckerstructure are restricted. This allows to restrict a rectangular “window”of beam former pointing angles as seen from the network node 10.

This can also be accomplished by signaling the restriction as a“rectangle” of precoders defined by the index pairs (k₀, l₀) and (k₁,l₁). With this scheme, precoders with indices k₀<k<k₁ and l₀<l<l₁ arerestricted.

Component-based restriction of a precoder group is just one example ofembodiments that provide for rank-agnostic CSR signaling. Otherembodiments herein also provide for such rank-agnostic signaling. Forexample, some embodiments herein generate signaling to jointly indicatethat a group of precoders which transmit in whole or in part in certainangular pointing direction(s) are restricted, by generating thesignaling to (explicitly or implicitly) indicate those angular pointingdirection(s). The signaling may for instance specify an angular area orinterval that is restricted, in terms of one or more angular parameters.This restriction may concern the angular pointing direction of aprecoder as a whole, or the angular pointing direction of any beamprecoder forming the precoder.

In one embodiment, the angular area or interval may be represented byangular points (ϕ₀, θ₀) and (ϕ₁, θ₁), spanning a rectangle in theangular domain. Here, ϕ and θ are the azimuth and zenith angles withrespect to the eNodeB respectivly. Multiple such rectangular areas maybe signaled although the present embodiment focuses on the case of asingle rectangular area for simplicity. The device 14 may then calculatethe angular pointing directions of the precoders in the codebook andcompare them to the restricted angular area to derive the codebooksubset restriction. The device 14 may need some additional informationregarding what to assume about the transmitter antenna array (which doesnot need to correspond to the actually used antenna array) to be able tocalculate the pointing directions of the precoders. Consider anexemplary embodiment where the (sub)-codebooks of the Kronecker codebookconsist of DFT-precoders, i.e

The horizontal codebook can be expressed as

${X_{H}^{k} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j2\pi\frac{{1k} + \Delta_{h}}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}\ \ldots\mspace{20mu} e^{j2\pi\frac{{{({M_{h} - 1})}k} + \Delta_{h}}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{k = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{h}Q_{h}} - 1},$where Q_(h) is an integer horizontal oversampling factor and Δ_(h) cantake on value in the interval 0 to 1 so as to “shift” the beam pattern(Δ_(h)=0.5 could be an interesting value for creating symmetry of beamswith respect to the broadside of an array).

The vertical codebook can be expressed as

${X_{V}^{l} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j2\pi\frac{{1l} + \Delta_{v}}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}\ \ldots\mspace{20mu} e^{j2\pi\frac{{{({M_{v} - 1})}l} + \Delta_{v}}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{l = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{v}Q_{v}} - 1},$where Q_(v) is an integer vertical oversampling factor and Δ_(v) issimilarly defined as above.

The pointing direction of precoder (k, l) can be calculated by firstcalculating the pointing angle with respect to the broadside of theantenna array:

$\overset{\sim}{\theta} = {a\;{\cos\left( \frac{k + \Delta - \frac{Q_{v}M_{v}}{2}}{d_{V}Q_{v}M_{v}} \right)}}$$\overset{\sim}{\phi} = {a\;{\sin\left( \frac{l + \Delta - \frac{Q_{h}M_{h}}{2}}{d_{H}Q_{h}M_{h}\sin\;\left( \overset{\sim}{\theta} \right)} \right)}}$

Where d_(V) and d_(H) is the vertical and horizontal antenna elementspacing of the array, in wavelengths, respectively. The mechanicaldowntilt angle β is taken into account in order to calculate the actualbeam pointing angles as:ϕ=∠(cos({tilde over (ϕ)})sin({tilde over (θ)})cos(−β)−cos({tilde over(θ)})sin(−β)+j sin({tilde over (θ)})sin({tilde over (θ)}))θ=a cos(cos({tilde over (ϕ)})sin({tilde over(θ)})sin(−β)+cos(−β)cos({tilde over (θ)}))

The device 14 needs to be signaled the additional information d_(H),d_(V) and β to be able to calculate the beam pointing direction of theprecoders in the codebook. It is assumed that the device 14 alreadyknows the parameters Q_(v), M_(v), Q_(h), M_(h) and Δ as part of thecodebook structure.

The set of parameters ϕ₀, θ₀, ϕ₁, θ₁, d_(H), d_(V), β thus parameterizesthe codebook subset restriction in this embodiment. When signaling saidparameters, several strategies may be used.

In one embodiment, each parameter is uniformly quantized with a numberof bits, over a predefined interval. An example is given in the tablebelow.

Parameters Interval Quantization bits ϕ₀, θ₀, ϕ₁, θ₁ [0, 180] [deg] 6d_(H), d_(V) [0, 2] 4 β [−30, 30] [deg] 6

In this embodiment, the number of bits required to signal the codebooksubset restriction is 38. Note that this is independent of the codebooksize.

In another embodiment, each parameter may take a value from a fixed setof possible values. Each possible value of the parameter is encoded witha different number of bits depending on e.g. the perceived likelihood ofthe parameter taking that value. For example, the horizontal arrayelement spacing d_(H) may be encoded as follows

Value 0.5 0.8 0.65 1 4 2 0.75 Bits 1 01 0011 0010 0001 00001 00000

In this embodiment, the encoding of d_(H) was designed to take intoaccount d_(H)=0.5 is a common value for horizontal antenna elementseparation, thus encoding this value with a low number of bits. Other,less common, values are encoded with a larger number of bits. Note thatthe encoding of d_(H) in this embodiment constitutes a uniquelydecodable code.

In another embodiment, some of the parameters are uniformly quantizedwith a number of bits over a predefined interval, while other parametersare encoded with a different number of bits as in the previousembodiment.

In some other embodiments, different sets of parameters relating to therestricted angular area may constitute the parameters that define thecodebook subset restriction. In one such embodiment, only a zenithinterval θ₀≤θ<θ₁ is restricted, and thus, θ₀, θ₁ may be sent. In anothersuch embodiment, the restriction is only an azimuth interval ϕ₀≤ϕ<θ₁. Inyet another such embodiment, the angle interval may be open-ended, i.e.ϕ<ϕ₁ constitutes the restriction.

In other embodiments, parameters relating to the antenna array such asd_(H), d_(V) and Ψ are not a part of the codebook subset restrictionparameters, instead they may be already known to the UE or the UEassumes a default value of said parameters and the eNodeB choosesrestriction angles (ϕ₀, θ₀) and (ϕ₁, θ₁) in such a way that the intendedprecoders are restricted when the UE calculates the restriction based onthe default values of said parameters, where the default values of saidparameters may differ from the actual value of said parameters.

In other embodiments, more parameters may be included in the codebooksubset restriction parameters. In one such embodiment, the roll angle γof the antenna array may be included in the codebook subset restrictionparameters.

In view of the above modifications and variations, one recognizes thatthere are many ways that the CSR signaling can jointly restrictprecoders in a group. The signaling can be rank-agnostic or not. And thesignaling can restrict a certain component that is common to the groupor signal angular parameters associated with the group. The signalingcan take the form of a bitmap for beam precoder indices, take the formof angular parameters, take the form of sub-codebook index pairs, takethe form of a bitmap for indices of a single sub-codebook, etc.Irrespective of these particular variations, though, CSR signalingoverhead is reduced based on correlation of the precoder restrictions orequivalently grouping of precoders. But the group-based jointrestriction means that not all of the 2^(N) codebook subset restrictionconfigurations are possible to convey to the device 14. Instead, only asubset of the possible configurations may be chosen.

Accordingly, at least some embodiments balance the loss in flexibilitycaused by joint restriction with the signaling overhead gains by suchjoint restriction by performing joint restriction with respect to only aportion of precoders in the codebook. That is, codebook subsetrestriction may be configured with full flexibility on a subset A of theprecoders in the codebook (meaning that each of the precoders may beturned on or off individually), while only a few configurations may bechosen for the remaining set B of precoders. For example, the codebooksubset restriction for the remaining set B of precoders may only berepresented with one bit, turning all precoders in the set either on oroff. This will reduce the CSR signaling overhead which is beneficial.

As an example in the context of beam precoders, the codebook may consistof two sets of precoders. One of the sets consist of precoders which maybe equivalently expressed as a function of layer-specific beam precoders(as defined above) while the other set may consist of arbitraryprecoders. In this embodiment, the first set of precoders may beconfigured with full flexibility while the other precoders in thecodebook may be configured with limited flexibility.

This embodiment is just one example of grouping of the precoders in thecodebook where precoders belonging to set A is individually representedby one bit while precoders in set B are all jointly restricted with asingle bit. This embodiment can be further extended by having multiplesets B as B_1, B_2, . . . B_N where each of the set B_n, n=1, . . . , Ncontain at least two precoders each and is associated with one CSR bit.In FIG. 8 an example is shown where Precoder 1 to 14 are eachrepresented by an individual bit (Set A), while all precoders in groupB1 are represented by a single CSR bit, e.g. the bit for precoder 15.

The defined groups may also be overlapping, so that a given precoderexists in multiple groups. If this is the case, then priority orcombining rules needs to be defined, so that the device 14 understandshow to interpret the case when one precoder is restricted by thesignaling of one group but not from another group it belong to.

In a further detailed embodiment, therefore, the groups B_n in FIG. 8may be overlapping and rules are specified in standard text on how thedevice 14 shall interpret CSR signaling. For instance, assume two groupsB_1 and B_2 each represented by one bit and that one precoder belongs toboth groups. One rule may be that if a precoder is restricted in any ofthe groups it belongs, then the precoder should be assumed to berestricted. Another alternative is that the precoder must be restrictedin both groups for the precoder to be assumed to be restricted.

In some embodiments in this disclosure, codebook subset restriction isdiscussed using the terminology precoders and codebooks. It may beassumed that beam specific restriction is used in said embodiments, andthat the terminology may be interchanged to beam precoders and set ofbeam precoders, depending on the granularity being discussed.

Note that although terminology from 3GPP LTE has been used in thisdisclosure to exemplify embodiments herein, this should not be seen aslimiting the scope of the embodiments to only the aforementioned system.Other wireless systems, including WCDMA, WiMax, UMB and GSM, may alsobenefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure.

Also note that terminology such as eNodeB and UE should be consideringnon-limiting and does in particular not imply a certain hierarchicalrelation between the two; in general “eNodeB” could be considered asdevice 1 and “UE” device 2, and these two devices communicate with eachother over some radio channel. Herein, we also focus on wirelesstransmissions in the downlink, but embodiments herein are equallyapplicable in the uplink.

Embodiments herein also include methods in a wireless communicationdevice 14 corresponding to the methods described above in a network node10. These methods receive and decode the signaling that the network node10 generates according to any of the embodiments above.

According to one embodiment shown in FIG. 9, for example, a method isimplemented by a wireless communication device 14 (e.g., a UE) fordecoding signaling from a network node 10 indicating which precoders ina codebook are restricted from being used. The method includes receivingthe signaling (Block 300). The method also includes, for each of one ormore groups of precoders in the codebook, decoding the signaling toidentify which of different possible configurations is actually signaledfor that group. Different possible configurations in this regardrestrict different subgroups of precoders in the group from being used.This decoding proceeds on a group-by-group basis, starting with a firstgroup (Block 310). Specifically, the decoding entails identifying one ormore reference configurations for the first group, the bit patternidentified for signaling each reference configuration, and the length ofthat bit pattern (Block 320). These reference configuration(s) may bepredefined at the device 14, or may be signaled from the network node10. Regardless, decoding then entails detecting the actual configurationsignaled for the group, by detecting a bit pattern in the receivedsignaling whose length depends on (i) whether the actual configurationmatches one of the one or more reference configurations; and/or (ii)which reference configuration the actual configuration matches (Block330).

Such may entail, for example, determining the length B of the bitpattern defined for signaling a particular reference configuration, andchecking whether a B-length string of the next bits in the signalingcorresponds to the bit pattern defined for signaling that referenceconfiguration. This determination and checking may be performed for eachof the one or more reference configurations, after which (if noreference configurations are identified as being signaled) adefault-length string of the next bits in the signaling is decoded fordetecting non-reference configurations.

Regardless of the particular implementation of the decoding process(Blocks 320-330), the decoding is repeated for each of the one or moregroups of precoders in the codebook (Blocks 340, 350).

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the device-sideembodiments include decoding of any of the network-side embodimentsillustrated with reference to FIG. 3, including for instance the“similar rows embodiments” and the “similar columns embodiment.”

According to one or more other embodiments shown in FIG. 10, a method isimplemented by a wireless communication device 14 (e.g., a UE) fordecoding signaling from a network node 10 indicating which precoders ina codebook are restricted from being used (e.g., which Kronecker productprecoders are restricted). As shown, the method includes receiving thesignaling from a network node 10 (e.g., a base station) (Block 400). Themethod also includes decoding the signaling as jointly restrictingprecoders in each of one or more groups of precoders (Block 410). In atleast some embodiments, such decoding involves decoding the signaling(i) as being rank-agnostic so as to restrict precoders irrespective oftheir transmission rank; and/or (ii) as jointly restricting a group ofprecoders by restricting a certain component that those precoders havein common.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the device-sideembodiments include decoding of any of the network-side embodimentsillustrated with reference to FIG. 5. So, for example, the device 14 insome embodiments decodes the signaling as jointly restricting a group ofprecoders that have a certain beam precoder in common, by restrictingthat beam precoder. And one or more device-side embodiments likewiseadvantageously exploit a codebook's Kronecker structure to decode thesignaling of FIG. 10 in terms of indices k, l, and/or m. In someembodiments, for example, the signaling is decoding as jointlyrestricting, e.g., with a single bit, a group of precoders that either(i) have the same value of index k; (ii) have the same value of index l;or (iii) have the same pair of values for indices (k, l).

With the above modifications and variations in mind, FIG. 11 illustratesadditional details of the network node 500 (corresponding to networknode 10) according to one or more embodiments. The network node 500 isconfigured, e.g., via functional means or units 540-570, to implementthe processing in FIG. 2 for signaling to a wireless communicationdevice 14 which precoders in a codebook are restricted from being used.The network node 500 in some embodiments for example includes areference configuration identifying means or unit 540 for identifyingone or more reference configurations for each of one or more groups ofprecoders. The network node 500 in such case further includes an actualconfiguration identifying means or unit 550 for identifying an actualconfiguration for each of the one or more groups. The network node 500also includes a signal generating means or unit 560 for generatingsignaling to indicate the actual configuration for each of the one ormore groups, by generating the signaling as a bit pattern whose lengthdepends on (i) whether the actual configuration matches one of the oneor more reference configurations; and/or (ii) which referenceconfiguration the actual configuration matches. The network node 500finally includes a sending means or unit 570 for sending the generatedsignaling to the wireless communication device.

In at least some embodiments, the network node 500 comprises one or moreprocessing circuits 510 configured to implement this processing, such asby implementing functional means or units 540-570. In one embodiment,for example, the node's processing circuit(s) 510 implement functionalmeans or units 540-570 as respective circuits. The circuits in thisregard may comprise circuits dedicated to performing certain functionalprocessing and/or one or more microprocessors in conjunction with memory520. In embodiments that employ memory 520, which may comprise one orseveral types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-accessmemory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices,etc., the memory stores program code that, when executed by the one ormore for carrying out one or more microprocessors, carries out thetechniques described herein.

In one or more embodiments, the network node 500 also comprises one ormore communication interfaces 530. The one or more communicationinterfaces 530 include various components (not shown) for sending andreceiving data and control signals. More particularly, the interface(s)530 include a transmitter that is configured to use known signalprocessing techniques, typically according to one or more standards, andis configured to condition a signal for transmission (e.g., over the airvia one or more antennas). Similarly, the interface(s) 530 include areceiver that is configured to convert signals received (e.g., via theantenna(s)) into digital samples for processing by the one or moreprocessing circuits 510.

FIG. 12 illustrates additional details of the network node 600 accordingto one or more embodiments. The network node 600 is configured, e.g.,via functional means or units 640-650, to implement the processing inFIG. 5 for signaling to a wireless communication device which precodersin a codebook are restricted from being used. The network node 600 insome embodiments for example includes a generating means or unit 640 forgenerating codebook subset restriction signaling that, for each of oneor more groups of precoders, jointly restricts the precoders in thegroup, e.g., with a single signaling bit. The network node 600 alsoincludes a sending means or unit 650 for sending the generated signalingto the wireless communication device.

In at least some embodiments, the network node 600 comprises one or moreprocessing circuits 610 configured to implement this processing, such asby implementing functional means or units 640-650. In one embodiment,for example, the node's processing circuit(s) 610 implement functionalmeans or units 640-650 as respective circuits (similarly to thatdescribed above, e.g., in conjunction with memory 620). In one or moreembodiments, the network node 600 also comprises one or morecommunication interfaces 630.

FIG. 13 illustrates additional details of the wireless communicationdevice 700 (corresponding to wireless communication device 14) accordingto one or more embodiments. The device 700 is configured, e.g., viafunctional means or units 740-760, to implement the processing in FIG. 9for decoding signaling from a network node indicating which precoders ina codebook are restricted from being used. The device 700 in someembodiments for example includes a receiving means or unit 740 forreceiving the signaling from the network node. The device 700 furtherincludes an identifying means or unit 750 configured, for each of one ormore groups of precoders, to identify one or more referenceconfigurations for the group, the bit pattern identified for signalingeach reference configuration, and the length of that bit pattern. Thedevice 700 finally includes a detecting means or unit 760 configured todetect the actual configuration signaled for the group, by detecting abit pattern in the received signaling whose length depends on (i)whether the actual configuration matches one of the one or morereference configurations; and/or (ii) which reference configuration theactual configuration matches.

In at least some embodiments, the device 700 comprises one or moreprocessing circuits 710 configured to implement this processing, such asby implementing functional means or units 740-760. In one embodiment,for example, the device's processing circuit(s) 710 implement functionalmeans or units 740-760 as respective circuits. The circuits in thisregard may comprise circuits dedicated to performing certain functionalprocessing and/or one or more microprocessors in conjunction with memory720. In embodiments that employ memory 720, which may comprise one orseveral types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-accessmemory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices,etc., the memory stores program code that, when executed by the one ormore for carrying out one or more microprocessors, carries out thetechniques described herein.

In one or more embodiments, the device 700 also comprises one or morecommunication interfaces 730. The one or more communication interfaces730 include various components (not shown) for sending and receivingdata and control signals. More particularly, the interface(s) 730include a transmitter that is configured to use known signal processingtechniques, typically according to one or more standards, and isconfigured to condition a signal for transmission (e.g., over the airvia one or more antennas). Similarly, the interface(s) 730 include areceiver that is configured to convert signals received (e.g., via theantenna(s)) into digital samples for processing by the one or moreprocessing circuits 710.

FIG. 14 illustrates additional details of the device 800 according toone or more other embodiments. The device 800 is configured, e.g., viafunctional means or units 840-850, to implement the processing in FIG.10 for decoding signaling from a network node indicating which precodersin a codebook are restricted from being used. The device 800 in someembodiments for example includes a receiving means or unit 840 forreceiving the signaling from the network node. The device 800 furtherincludes a decoding means or unit 850 for decoding the signaling asjointly restricting precoders in each of one or more groups ofprecoders.

In at least some embodiments, the device 800 comprises one or moreprocessing circuits 810 configured to implement this processing, such asby implementing functional means or units 840-850. In one embodiment,for example, the device's processing circuit(s) 810 implement functionalmeans or units 840-850 as respective circuits (similarly to thatdescribed above, e.g., in conjunction with memory 820). In one or moreembodiments, the device 800 also comprises one or more communicationinterfaces 830.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that embodiments hereinfurther include corresponding computer programs.

A computer program comprises instructions which, when executed on atleast one processor of the network node or the wireless communicationdevice, cause node or device to carry out any of the respectiveprocessing described above. Embodiments further include a carriercontaining such a computer program. This carrier may comprise one of anelectronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readablestorage medium.

A computer program in this regard may comprise one or more code modulescorresponding to the means or units described above.

GENERAL EMBODIMENTS

In a first embodiment, a UE is able to receive messages in order to turnindividual codewords on/off. The following holds for the set of possiblemessages:

At least one of these messages, which correspond to a certainconfiguration out of the 2{circumflex over ( )}N possibleconfigurations, is represented by less than N bits.

The message will contain information to define on/off for eachindividual codeword in the entire codebook.

Each message is uniquely decodable to the UE and will correspond to oneof the 2{circumflex over ( )}N possible configurations.

In a second embodiment, the UE of the first embodiment is configuredsuch that codebook subset restriction is done on beam precoders.

In a third embodiment, the UE of the first embodiment is configured suchthat codebook subset restriction is configured with full flexibility fora subset of precoders in the codebook, while codebook subset restrictionis configured with a limited flexibility for other precoders in thecodebook.

In a fourth embodiment, the UE of the third embodiment is configuredsuch that the set of precoders for which codebook subset restriction isconfigured with full flexibility is the set of precoders that may beequivalently expressed as a function of layer-specific beam precoders.

In a fifth embodiment, the UE of the first embodiment is configured suchthat N=N_H·N_V from the Kronecker structure.

In a sixth embodiment, the UE of any of the first through the fifthembodiments is configured such that the information used to design theset of messages consists of information about angular intervals whichare likely to be restricted.

In a seventh embodiment, the UE of the first embodiment is configuredsuch that only a subset of the 2{circumflex over ( )}N possibleconfigurations may be configured.

In an eighth embodiment, the UE of the first embodiment is configuredsuch that at least one of the messages, which corresponds to a certainconfiguration out of the 2{circumflex over ( )}N possibleconfigurations, is represented more than N bits.

In a ninth embodiment, the UE of the first embodiment is configured suchthat the set of messages are designed using information about thelikelihood of certain configurations being chosen.

In a tenth embodiment, the UE of the first embodiment is configured suchthat the information about the likelihood of certain configurationsbeing chosen is only an implicit assumption of the likelihoods.

In an eleventh embodiment, the UE of the first embodiment is configuredsuch that a set of angles specifies the configuration.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method implemented by a network node forsignaling to a wireless communication device which precoders in acodebook are restricted from being used, the method characterized by:generating codebook subset restriction signaling that, for each of oneor more groups of precoders, jointly restricts the precoders in thegroup by restricting a component that the precoders in the group have incommon, wherein the codebook subset restriction signaling isrank-agnostic signaling that jointly restricts the precoders in a groupwithout regard to the precoders' transmission rank, wherein thecomponent is based on a Kronecker product of:${X_{H}^{k} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi\; k}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}\ \ldots\mspace{20mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi\;{k{({M_{h} - 1})}}}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{k = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{h}Q_{h}} - 1},$where Q_(h) is an integer horizontal oversampling factor and M_(h) is ahorizontal dimension; and${X_{V}^{l} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi\; l}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}\ \ldots\mspace{20mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi\;{l{({M_{v} - 1})}}}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{l = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{v}Q_{v}} - 1},$where Q_(v) is an integer vertical oversampling factor and M_(v) is avertical dimension; and sending the generated signaling from the networknode to the wireless communication device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein a precoder, of the one or more groups of precoders, comprisingone or more components is restricted if at least one of its one or morecomponents is restricted.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thecomponent is a Kronecker product of different beamforming vectorsassociated with different dimensions of a multi-dimensional antennaarray.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the different beamformingvectors comprises of Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) vectors.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the component is a beamforming vector used totransmit on a particular layer of a multi-layer transmission, whereindifferent scaled versions of the beamforming vector are transmitted ondifferent polarizations.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein: thecomponent is a Kronecker product of a first and a second beamformingvectors with a first and a second indices, wherein the first and secondbeamforming vectors are associated with different dimensions of amulti-dimensional antenna array; and the codebook subset restrictionsignaling jointly restricts the precoders in a group of precoders thathave the same pair of values for the first and second indices.
 7. Amethod implemented by a wireless communication device for decodingsignaling from a network node indicating which precoders in a codebookare restricted from being used, the method characterized by: receivingcodebook subset restriction signaling that, for each of one or moregroups of precoders, jointly restricts the precoders in the group byrestricting a component that the precoders in the group have in common,wherein the codebook subset restriction signaling is rank-agnosticsignaling that jointly restricts the precoders in a group without regardto the precoders' transmission rank, wherein the component is based on aKronecker product of:${X_{H}^{k} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi k}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}\ldots\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi{k{({M_{h} - 1})}}}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{k = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{h}Q_{h}} - 1},$where Q_(h) is an integer horizontal oversamplinq factor and M_(h) is ahorizontal dimension; and${X_{V}^{l} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi l}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}\ \ldots\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi{l{({M_{v} - 1})}}}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{l = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{v}Q_{v}} - 1},$where Q_(v) is an integer vertical oversamplinq factor and M_(v) is avertical dimension; and decoding the received signaling as jointlyrestricting precoders in each of the one or more groups of precoders. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein a precoder, of the one or more groups ofprecoders, comprising one or more components is restricted if at leastone of its one or more components is restricted.
 9. The method of claim7, wherein the component is a Kronecker product of different beamformingvectors associated with different dimensions of a multi-dimensionalantenna array.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the differentbeamforming vectors comprises of Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT)vectors.
 11. The method of claim 7, wherein the component is abeamforming vector used to transmit on a particular layer of amulti-layer transmission, wherein different scaled versions of thebeamforming vector are transmitted on different polarizations.
 12. Themethod of claim 7, wherein: the component is a Kronecker product offirst and second beamforming vectors with first and second indices,wherein the first and second beamforming vectors are associated withdifferent dimensions of a multi-dimensional antenna array; and thecodebook subset restriction signaling jointly restricts the precoders ina group of precoders that have the same pair of values for the first andsecond indices.
 13. A network node for signaling to a wirelesscommunication device which precoders in a codebook are restricted frombeing used, the network node comprising: a processor and a memory, thememory containing instructions executable by the processor whereby thenetwork node is configured to: generate codebook subset restrictionsignaling that, for each of one or more groups of precoders, jointlyrestricts the precoders in the group by restricting a component that theprecoders in the group have in common, wherein the codebook subsetrestriction signaling is rank-agnostic signaling that jointly restrictsthe precoders in a group without regard to the precoders' transmissionrank, and the component is based on a Kronecker product of:${X_{H}^{k} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi k}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}\ \ldots\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi{k{({M_{h} - 1})}}}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{k = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{h}Q_{h}} - 1},$where Q_(h) is an integer horizontal oversampling factor and M_(h) is ahorizontal dimension, and${X_{V}^{l} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi l}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}\ldots\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi{l{({M_{v} - 1})}}}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{l = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{v}Q_{v}} - 1},$where Q_(v) is an integer vertical oversampling factor and M_(v) is avertical dimension; and send the generated signaling from the networknode to the wireless communication device.
 14. The network node of claim13, wherein a precoder comprising one or more components is restrictedif at least one of its one or more components is restricted.
 15. Thenetwork node of claim 13, wherein the component is a Kronecker productof different beamforming vectors associated with different dimensions ofa multi-dimensional antenna array.
 16. The network node of claim 15,wherein the different beamforming vectors comprises of Discrete FourierTransform (DFT) vectors.
 17. The network node of claim 13, wherein thecomponent is a beamforming vector used to transmit on a particular layerof a multi-layer transmission, wherein different scaled versions of thatbeamforming vector are transmitted on different polarizations.
 18. Thenetwork node of claim 13, wherein the component is a Kronecker productof first and second beamforming vectors with first and second indices,wherein the first and second beamforming vectors are associated withdifferent dimensions of a multi-dimensional antenna array, and whereinthe codebook subset restriction signaling jointly restricts theprecoders in a group of precoders that have the same pair of values forthe first and second indices.
 19. A wireless communication device fordecoding signaling from a network node indicating which precoders in acodebook are restricted from being used, the wireless communicationdevice comprising: a processor and a memory, the memory containinginstructions executable by the processor whereby the wirelesscommunication device is configured to: receive codebook subsetrestriction signaling that, for each of one or more groups of precoders,jointly restricts the precoders in the group by restricting a componentthat the precoders in the group have in common, wherein the codebooksubset restriction signaling is rank-agnostic signaling that jointlyrestricts the precoders in a group without regard to the precoders'transmission rank, and the component is based on a Kronecker product of${X_{H}^{k} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi k}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}\ \ldots\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi{k{({M_{h} - 1})}}}{M_{h}Q_{h}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{k = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{h}Q_{h}} - 1},$where Q_(h) is an integer horizontal oversampling factor and M_(h) is ahorizontal dimension; and${X_{V}^{l} = \left\lbrack {1\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi l}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}\ \ldots\mspace{14mu} e^{j\frac{2\pi{l{({M_{v} - 1})}}}{M_{v}Q_{v}}}} \right\rbrack^{T}},{l = 0},\ldots\mspace{14mu},{{M_{v}Q_{v}} - 1},$where Q_(v) is an integer vertical oversampling factor and M_(v) is avertical dimension; and decode the received signaling as jointlyrestricting precoders in each of the one or more groups of precoders.20. The wireless communication device of claim 19, wherein a precoder,of the one or more groups of precoders, comprising one or morecomponents is restricted if at least one of its one or more componentsis restricted.
 21. The wireless communication device of claim 19,wherein the component is a Kronecker product of different beamformingvectors associated with different dimensions of a multi-dimensionalantenna array.
 22. The wireless communication device of claim 21,wherein the different beamforming vectors comprises of Discrete FourierTransform (DFT) vectors.
 23. The wireless communication device of claim19, wherein the component is a beamforming vector used to transmit on aparticular layer of a multi-layer transmission, wherein different scaledversions of that beamforming vector are transmitted on differentpolarizations.
 24. The wireless communication device of claim 19,wherein the component is a Kronecker product of a first and a secondbeamforming vectors with a first and a second indices, wherein the firstand second beamforming vectors are associated with different dimensionsof a multi-dimensional antenna array, and wherein the codebook subsetrestriction signaling jointly restricts the precoders in a group ofprecoders that have the same pair of values for the first and secondindices.